Nightmare System - Volume 1 Chapter 44 The One Man Army

They had just connected another portal to where they were, quickly trying to make their way to Pandora’s City. When the Bloodhound heard Hell’s rapid exploits in such a short time, it nigh caused his jaw to hit the floor. This was an unprecedented event on this continent of thousands of years. He made quick preparations to ready an army to help Hell. And even if Hell lost against Pandora, he was sure Hell would have dealt immense damage to him, nonetheless. It would be even better if he could finish him off himself.

“How many more days is this going to take?” a high-pitched voice asked, with a bored tone. “It has already been another week since we came here, he is probably not even there anymore!” Not only were they confined indoors since they didn’t know when they could open the gate, it just made it harder as their army was right outside the castle doors, thousands of archers and around a hundred spell casters, just waiting for the right moment.

Praneo almost sliced the siblings apart when he heard these two puny humans dared turn their back on Hell, the first kindred spirit he found in his life. “Then we’ll search for other portals in the city’s vicinity, stay quiet,” said Praneo the Bloodhound, that was the name he was given by the masses after massacring tens of hundreds on numerous battlefields.

The elegant Menaroan etiquette was barely reminiscent on this man. He had always felt isolated in this nation of agility and grace. Menaroans, by nature, had a constitution that enabled them to execute movements with finesse but lacked brute strength, unlike Praneo who was born with the strength of a Minotaur instead. Their striking eyes also saw into quite a distance while even granting them a certain range of vision even in pitch-black darkness. This made them godsend archers coupled with their dexterity.

Menaroans also had quite a few magicians amongst them, mostly druids and clerics with their close bond to nature. The only reason they were reduced to such a pathetic state where they couldn’t even fight back against one Vampire Lord from the outer circle was that they were too proud, far too proud for their own good.

“Sir, Praneo, King Sir,” Leila said with blatant sarcasm in her tone: “how did this Vampire and Demon spat start again?”

Leila was truly bored out of her mind. Eventually, they were unable to explain why they would be alone, away from Hell and an army to keep them safe and instead were trying to survive by themselves. The truth revealed itself soon after. Praneo was not stupid, no matter how much like a brute he looked.

Praneo harrumphed and turned his back to leave, not answering her question. Nile, however, took the initiative to speak, she was not only the right-hand of Praneo thus a skilled official, but quite knowledgeable in history, too. As their space magic casters continued focusing their efforts on their portal to establish new connections to open up a path, she started telling the story of this continent:

“You first need to know that vampires aren’t indigenous to this world,” she began her explanation. “When the vampires first came to this land with their Queen Medusa, there were only a few of them. But they were still far too powerful, enough to agitate the demons and devils who always minded their own business in their own part of the world.”

“Where did they come here from?” Leila cut in to ask.

Nile shook her head. “We don’t know. They suddenly appeared one day. Demons were also a lot fewer in number before the start of their war, governing a region of misery no one dared to step in. They would at times raid and attack other kingdoms, but were always forced back into Demonlands.” After taking a deep breath, she continued telling her about the unbelievable politics and wars of this world.

They have also been using Leon’s Telekinesis to break down the barriers between each portal to successfully connect each one. He wasn’t a successful caster by any means, but his large pool of mana and unique ability allowed them to make impossible possible, connecting portals without a teleportation stone or someone already attuned to the said portals. Nile had proposed this idea when she learnt how they managed to teleport themselves into the palace without even knowing how they could operate a portal. But even though Leon was busy helping the space magic casters, or space mages, he still listened in on this interesting conversation.

In summary; Djinn Queen Medusa had immediately declared herself the Queen of the world and ordered his invincible vampires to take over the world for her. These vampires could give birth to others of their kind and any type of undead created would be absolutely loyal to them.

Also, any vampire created by Medusa would be loyal to her, as well, no matter the former personality or loyalty of the person, thus she was also called the Djinn of Manipulation. Countries fell one after another against the onslaught of these immortal creatures.

She then continued her story as not every day would she get to talk about ancient history to such an attentive listener. Leila was entirely focused and listening.

“However,” Nile said. “One day, Djinn Queen’s vampires killed the Demon of Pride and the demons which had been mostly docile in their own lands erupted in unending anger with a single order from Lucifer. And a strong devil was situated to be the new Demon of Pride.”

“I thought Lucifer was the Demon of Pride?” Leon asked as he accidentally poured a bit more mana than usual into the portal and caused an unexpected reaction, which almost blew up on them. He continued focusing with an apologetic smile.

“Idiot!” Nile yelled. “Remember! We just need you to use a very small portion of your strength so we can connect the portal gates. What will we do if you break this one?!” She composed herself and answered the question after seeing Leon’s concentration was restored: “Lucifer was indeed the original Demon of Pride, but he resides in Hell and confers the title to his proxy in this world. Otherwise, as a being at the level of Player Killer, vampires would have been eradicated long ago.”

“Oh, we met Player Killer’s village before!” Leila spoke up suddenly. “He was really strong.”

“You fought him?!” Nile was flabbergasted at this sudden revelation. “You must be joking!” she exclaimed.

“Well, we couldn’t do anything to him originally, but” Leila thought for a moment and continued: “You better ask Hell when we meet him. But Player Killer’s avatar is gone now!”

Nile was shocked to hear the words coming out of her mouth. Did they actually manage to kill something that was revered as a God? Her chest was heaving up and down as she asked to confirm. “Did you meet Player Killer in that Greenskin village protected by two large beasts you mentioned you massacred before?”

“Well, Hell did it. Turns out that village was under the protection of Player Killer.”

“Did one of you sign a contract?!” Nile asked hurriedly, gripping Leila’s wrist almost to the point of breaking it. There was one way Player Killer would leave their world, that is to find himself a champion. It was only rumours and unproven articles that mentioned it, but as a history enthusiast, she was unfathomably excited.

“Let go of my arm,” Leila said with a threatening look as Nile also suddenly felt Leon’s penetrating gaze behind herself.

“I apologise.”

“It’s fine, ask Hell later if you want,” Leila then said with an annoyed tone, caressing her bruised wrist. Of course, the bruise was healed in moments.

“Are you sure he’s still alive?” Nile couldn’t help but ask. She was aware Praneo quite doted on him as a good friend albeit their short time, but killing Pandora wasn’t easy by any means. They’d do it themselves otherwise.

“I feel like he can’t be killed,” Leila mumbled.

Before Nile could reply, one of the space magic casters trying to operate the portal yelled from behind, garnering the attention of everyone in the room.

“Lady Nile, we have reached another portal, we need someone to check the other side again!”

Even Praneo had come running when he heard it, very unbefitting of a King. It seems he hadn’t gone away but was only out of sight.

Leila took a few steps toward the portal and she got ready to activate her “One With Shadows” ability to have a quick look at the other side of the portal. She then stopped right before stepping to the other side, her nose was suddenly assaulted by the pungent smell of dead flesh as well as drying blood. Even though she was a vampire, the latter was still quite repulsive to her when dried.

“Quick, have a look!” yelled Praneo. He would go first had it not been for his responsibility as a King. How he missed the battlefields and fighting without a care. It was a lot easier when he was just a soldier instead of this job he happened upon.

Anyone else in the Congregation, of course, would lose their minds had they know what Praneo was thinking. They each wanted to be the King and each was vying for it.

Leila nodded and she activated her ability just as she entered to mask her presence. She would then switch to Shadow Step which she had been practising for a week here. She wasn’t as proficient as Nero, but she could at least fully enter the shadows now. Almost as soon as she entered, she came back.

“Hell’s there, and a lot of corpses! Leon, come on!”

Nile rushed outside the order the army to march inside the portal as Praneo followed behind Leon who, worriedly, followed right after Leila. Leon’s power was only used as a penetrating force, thus he was no longer needed anyway. All these portals were connected, but still had invisible barriers separating them so not anyone could use the portals. Leon’s heart was beating fast, anxious to meet that devil of a man, Hell. He no longer trusted him.

The view they met was that of a battlefield with thousands of corpses littering the grounds. The aura of death and misery was enough to make a person sick. One could feel all these people died in fear. What was worse, these corpses seemed to belong to mortal races, humans and greenskins.

Judging from their armour and weapons, it was unlikely these were vampires. Especially considering the way they were killed. Most seemed to have their chests and heads intact, which were one of the few ways to kill vampires.

Finally, there were around 15-20 people in the distance. Each of them turned their heads to these new people coming from the portal with absolute bloodthirst.

“Hell! It’s us!” Leila shouted into the distance. They were still quite a bit away from one another. It was possible if Hell was unable to make their faces from there. Leon didn’t know whether to commend his sister’s courage or reprimand her stupidity. It seemed all those people they saw were Hell and his copies and they were all wielding the Sword of Blood. He looked truly dangerous.

There were exactly 18 copies left, perhaps two had died during the battle, but all remaining copies started walking toward their direction. Praneo also shouted toward Hell: “Friend, we came here to back you up!”

There was no response at first, but soon after the copies began melting away, almost extinguished by some invisible force.

“I guess it has been an hour” Hell murmured as he ran toward them. He felt conflicted. He wanted to see these people he considered friends, but he was also angry. He thought as he ran, deaf to outside noise.

He then raised his head to see the soldiers in front of them cautiously sticking out their arms while Praneo yelling at them to lower the said weapons. Hell started walking slowly to the siblings and stopped right before them.

Both Hell and the Sword of Blood were covered in blood, absolutely reeking. Leon wanted to talk first and initiate the conversation with him but his tongue was tied at the moment, not being able to speak. There was an aura of death on this one after killing who knows how many, that froze one’s soul in fear.

They saw Hell raise his hand and reach for his sister. He steeled his resolve and yelled at this dealer of death before himself. The soldiers behind them had dropped their weapons not because Praneo told them to, just because they didn’t want to do anything to provoke this creature they were seeing.

“Get your hand away from-” Leon was yelling, which came to an abrupt stop when Hell’s hand slowly fell on Leila’s and patted her on the head. Hell didn’t even turn to him and said in a calm voice:

“Welcome back.”

In Hell’s mind, they were having a reunion right now, touching and sweet with both sides not knowing how to apologise to one another. So he went ahead and welcomed them back, showing them that there was no need for words. But the sight before Leila and Leon was, as mentioned, quite different.

Leila understood that they needed his strength to survive, and once they started running out of mana and options to survive, Hell’s vile acts seemed much more civil and righteous to them. Even though Leon had lost his trust in him, he was now shining like a star in Leila’s eyes. Sure, a dark, bloodthirsty star, but a star, nonetheless.

“Thank you, Hell,” said Leila with a faint voice, but it was enough for Hell to hear it.

“Great timing,” Hell said. “We have been quite popular lately, as you can see.”